Pixar, the paragon of the animation studio, recently recorded the worst marketing failure in its history with the movie called Elemental. With a substantial budget expenditure of 200 million, the movie was only able to pull 29.6 million at the domestic box office, marking the lowest opening weekend sales ever.
The movie itself received a lot of positive reviews from the audience for its depth of imaginative storyline and visually appealing graphics, indicating that there are other causes to why Elemental fell short.
“Maybe pandemic-worried families were not quite ready to return to theaters,” The New York Times said. “Or maybe, as some box office analysts speculated, Disney had weakened the Pixar brand by using its films to build the Disney+ streaming service.”
All of these causes contributed to the marketing flop, especially with the pandemic over the last three years making it harder to bring audiences back to the theater with an increase in theater prices as the cherry on top.
“It’s expensive for a family to go to the movies,” CBR, quoting Pixar President Jim Morris, said. “It can be a $100 afternoon for a family, and that can be a stretch for some to do. The other thing is that during COVID, we trained audiences to watch our movies on Disney+.”
Disney+, one of the most popular streaming services, was established as a platform for movies to become more accessible to people during the pandemic. However, this successful plan of action had an unintended consequence, heavily contributing to Pixar’s struggles.
“On one hand, we were so thankful that there was Disney+ so that we could release the film and people could see it,” Morris in correspondence with CBR said. “In the long run, there’s been a bit of a mixed blessing because we’ve trained audiences that these films will be available for you on Disney+.”
Sophomore Jyotika Sadani talks about how Elemental’s availability on Disney+ in the near future made her wait for that movie and watch other summer movies in theaters.
“During the summer, there was this whole trend that was going around, such as dressing up in pink to see the Barbie movie with friends,” Sadani said. “But I wasn’t very motivated enough to go see Pixar Elemental because I knew the streaming services would make it available soon.”
Other than Disney or Pixar films, movies released exclusively in the theaters were able to draw a huge audience, making Disney+ all the more accountable for low marketing sales.
“Families turned out in colossal numbers for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (Universal) in April and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony) early this month,” The New York Times said. “Family moviegoing budgets may be used up at this point, and movie watchers know they will be able to catch ‘Elemental’ before long at home.”
Although the pandemic, not to mention the repercussions caused by Disney+, accounts for a lot of the lack of audience turnout, there were also other factors, including a recent “brain drain” due to layoffs and an unexpectedly obscure movie trailer.
“When initial teasers and trailers were released, it was hard to tell what exactly Elemental would be about,” Screenrant said. “For that reason, it was hard to justify seeing Elemental in the throes of the pandemic when other big movies seemed more interesting.”
Sophomore Nafisa Mehru talks about how Elemental wasn’t publicized enough to bring audiences to the theaters.
“For Elemental movie, I haven’t seen a lot of advertisements and people saying that they wanted to go watch it, while the Barbie movie was everywhere on social media,” Mehru said. “So, I have been waiting to see if Disney+ releases the movie later this year.”
Because of this less-than-ideal release timing and lackluster advertising, it was up to word-of-mouth to promote this movie’s real appeal and strength.
“Disney’s marketing plans failed to get people into theaters at the onset of Elemental’s run, but its comeback is proving that audiences who enjoyed the film have given it legs to stand on,” Screenrant said.
A long period passed since its release, yet the movie Elemental is finally getting the credit and appreciation that it deserves plus an exponential growth in its sales.
“Its long-term success and praise from attendees show beyond a doubt that where marketing failed, fans of the film stepped up to prove more effective than Disney’s promotions,” Screenrant said. “Despite low box office numbers at the start, Elemental audiences loved the imaginative depth of the movie’s storyline and have generated essential conversation surrounding it.”
